Charter School Review Committee - Regular Meeting

Out to you all concerning the renewal. Not sure if I can share my screen. I could share it or we if everybody has it. So this memo served as the first request for the first option for one year extension to the contract currently in place for educational oversight for the Milwaukee Charter School Review Committee between the city of Milwaukee and Evident Change. There is a list of deliverables that Evident Change will provide for the twenty twenty five, twenty sixth school year.

These deliverables are not different from what is pre is currently in the contract. Evidence change staff conducts fall interviews with each school leadership, including separate meetings for leadership of each academy, middle, elementary, and high school. These meetings provide the baseline to develop annual school academic and engagement goals. Those goals are then drafted up in what we call a learning memo, and we also attach a data addendum letting the schools know all the data that we need to collect in order to review those goals at the end of the school year. We also conduct at least two site visits at each school campus to observe instructional delivery, common spaces, classroom management, student engagement, and assessment practices.

We provide follow-up and support for data gathering and compliance monitoring to all schools as needed. We also conduct a a random review of special education files and reading intervention files for each school. We also collect and analyze data submitted by the schools, which includes the school structure, the student population data, standardized testing data, the student growth data, teacher licensure compliance, special education services data, language instruction, education program enrollment, integrated English as a second language language program data, graduation information such as amounts that students receive for scholarships, and also the student plans for postsecondary, education. We also receive the data for the parental engagement. Additionally, we conduct, spring interviews with each school school's leadership, again, including separate meetings for each, leadership academy such as elementary, middle, and high.

These meetings enable staff to collect data on the, school year's progress, identifying factors that may influence academic and engagement goals that were set at the beginning of the school year. We also produce a draft and a final annual monitoring report. That first draft goes out to the schools so they can read over it, make sure that it aligns with the data and the information that we've discussed, and they let us know if they would like to see any changes. We we then produce a final annual man monitoring report that includes recommendations for actions related to academic performance against the criteria established by the CSRC. Possible recommended actions include continue continued monitoring, which means that there were no action at that time or consider consideration for probation, closure, or renewal of the charter contract.

In addition to the services provided directly to each school, the following services and activities are indirectly related to assisting schools through assisting the CSRC. We present each school's report to the CSRC with follow-up activities related to questions or concerns about the school's progress. We assist the CSRC in the presentation and production of reports to the Milwaukee Common Council Steering and Rules Committee, provide assistance as needed to the CSRC to address issues that arise throughout the school year. This can include drafting memos and making recommendations for CSRC considerations as the need for policy revisions arise. Additionally, ongoing project management, ensures charter school oversight deliverables are effectively aligned with comprehensive research, thorough documentation, and school improvement.

This approach involves continuous coordination and oversight to ensure that all activities related to monitoring, evaluation, and performance assessment are grounded in evidence based practices. It includes the integration of relevant research findings to inform decision making, maintaining meticulous records to track progress and outcomes, and delivering detailed forward thinking plans to address emerging needs and challenges within new requirements that may come about from the department of instruction. Now I'd like to add here that there is a group of individuals from Evidence Change working on this project. In addition to myself would be data analysis, and also we have journal journalists who are work as the editors of our reports. The coming school year, we will be conducting surveys again as well.

The CSRC has requested that Evident Change conduct school climate surveys for the purpose of gathering information regarding organizational compliance and stakeholder satisfaction. The CSRC acts that this process be completed every other academic year. Evident change last completed this process for the 2324 academic year. The information was included in the annual reports for each city charter school operating that year. Assuming, CSRC continues this process, evident change staff will do the following during the coming, school year for 2526.

Design, revise, and update the survey tool specific to each school to be used for board members, teachers, students, and parents. This will include a Spanish version for students and parent surveys. Collaborate with the survey coordinator at each school to establish and maintain a structured schedule for the continuous distribution of parent surveys until the survey period concludes. Proctor surveys for all available students in grades sixth through twelfth grade at each school, conduct a comprehensive analysis of survey data integrating both quantitative and qualitative findings, Perform a thematic analysis of open ended, responses to identify key patterns and insights. Ensure that the analysis of the survey data are integrated within each school's annual report.

This inclusion will provide a comprehensive assessment of key trends, stakeholder feedback, and areas for improvement, enabling data driven decision making and continuous enhancement. Additionally, Evident Change will meet with the board of directors of each city school at the request of the CSRC. Evident Change staff will prepare a presentation of the school's current performance data and recommendations for continuous improvement. The content of these meetings will include an explanation of the city's expectations, this discussion of the school's progress, and any pertinent information. So the the last line of this is a total cost of services.

We have the total cost for five schools listed here with the the annual cost would be per with for a $137.95 per hour with the estimated two thousand three hundred and twenty hours for the coming school year. I'll pause there. Questions here?

Any specific questions for doctor Baylor with respect to the renewal evidence change annual monitoring for city of Milwaukee? I would just say thank you, doctor Baylor, for the presentation we just recently did before the standing rules committee. The way you set it up was a nice blueprint for us moving forward and knowing how we will conduct our presentations in the future going forward. So I just wanna commend you on on the report you put together for the standard Thank you. Thank

you.

Any additional comments? Seeing none, I would like to entertain a motion for the first annual renewal contract number B18948. First annual renewal of the city of Milwaukee contract with evidence change for the 02/2526 academic year.

This is Bill. I'll move approval.

K. May I have a second, please?

I'll second that.

Who who seconded it?

Zena.

Okay. Thank you, Zena. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. Next will be the transformation of learning contract extension.

And Okay. I'll start. So I have my team on here, Judith Romulus and Sherry Oak. We have presented a memo for ITO's contract for one additional year as indicated as the option on a three year term. We will serve the I mean, the contract services include education management and administrative oversight for the city of Milwaukee charter schools and the charter school review committee.

We have several actually, many deliverable deliverables for the charter school review committee. I will will save them, but I won't go into all of the details. So we will we will provide oversight with the operational leadership for the Charter School Review Committee. That means providing strategic direction, overseeing the operations of the Charter School Review Committee as implemented by Evident Change, MLDocs, and internal ITO personnel. Our key responsibilities include contract management, budget oversight, financial monitoring, technical support for charter school application and renewal processes, and that would mean managing and over overseeing the review, approval, renewal, revocation of charter schools to ensure alignment with the performance standards and legal requirements.

We will also provide services as it relates to policy development and stakeholder communications, strategic planning, operational improvements, which includes identifying and recommending enhancements to the strategy, policies, and operational procedures of the charter school review committee, member onboarding and engagement, which includes facilitating the onboarding process of new charter school youth committee members, providing necessary orientation, resources, and training. We will also serve as a in a liaison role in government relations, meaning that we are the primary liaison for the Charter School Review Committee as it relates to collaboration and communication with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, elected officials at local, state, and federal levels, school board members, and charter school leaders. We will also provide administrative and clerical support for the charter school review committee, managing the charter school application, preparing reports, documentation, staffing of the charter school review committee members. That includes preparing agenda, materials, and necessary documentation for the meetings to ensure structured discussions and decision making, enhancing transparency and public access. That includes managing the online presence through the city's website, the registrar process, and other other digital tools, public engagement and response, advocacy, and rep rep representation and policy discussions.

We will also provide compliance monitoring and then training and professional development for the charter school leaders and the school board members. These efforts focus on governance, best practices, regulatory compliance, school leadership, and stakeholder engagement to enhance overall school performance and accountability. As I stated before, there are three of us on the staff at ITL. We will have a fee going forward for the 2526 school year of 315,000, and that is 2,000 doll hours at $157.5. And I don't know if Judith or Sherry has anything to add.

Of course, we appreciate working with the Charter School Review Committee. And over the years, of course, we it is a process where we're always refining practices and making recommendations to make all processes more effective and more transparent. Are there any questions?

I don't

know where Kevin is.

I'm right here. Can you hear me?

Okay. Yes.

And can you see me too?

We cannot see you.

Hold on. Because I I had to let me make sure my camera on. I had to I have to refresh every so often. Okay. And I don't understand why I have to do that. But

We can hear you. Oh, there you go. I would

like to just say on behalf of the committee, one, thank you for really the positive role you've played with respect to financial monitoring and serving as our liaison, not only with the not only with our schools, but with the city and working closely with Linda. I'm looking forward to us receiving new applications hopefully in the in the future. I particularly wanna thank you for the role, the committee you guys have played with respect to government relations and serving board meetings with respect to the state charter school review committee that runs all the state charter schools and participating in those monitoring meetings and governance meetings. And I know there's one coming up up tomorrow. And, really, the behind the scenes work with respect to working closely with evidence change and preparing those annual reports that that go before the standing rules committee and particularly the public engagement and always keeping us abreast of when we're being contacted by news media and helping us put the you know, make sure we respond appropriately and within a timely manner so that we can adhere to also taking care of the needs of of the public.

So I just wanna thank you for that and also keeping us abreast on the annual conferences that take place each year and encouraging members from the committee to if they're available to attend those conferences. So on behalf of the committee, thank you very much. Any additional comments or questions for the institute for the transformation of learning? K. Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the contract extension for of the city of Milwaukee contract with the Institute for the Transformational Learning for the 02/2526 academic year.

I motion to accept.

I'll I'll move approval.

Okay. Who wants to take the lead

The go ahead, Bill. I could just second it.

You made the motion, Bill?

Yes.

Okay. Isaiah, you second it. All in favor okay.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. Motion carries. Our next one is our annual financial report for the pest. I would turn it over to you to walk us through everything. Okay. Well,

thank you, Kevin. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to do this again another year. So we'll just dive into it just to

just a genetic one. Yeah. We do have, besides me, everyone is new

to this program. I'm sorry. Yeah. This is this is Rupesh Gupta with ML Tharps and Associates. We have been hired to do audit reviews for all these choice schools, by the charter school review committee.

And we will be presenting over a report, based on the review of the audits for as far as related to the financial health of the schools. So I will just dive into the report if you like, starting with the Downtown Montessori Academy, which completed its twenty sixth year of operation as a City Of Milwaukee charter school. DMA had a gain of $16,000 in 2024 after a significant deficit in prior year. The school year showed approximate revenue of $3,340,000 or about a $469,000 gain, which was primarily due to the charter funding. The charter funding went up by about $2,100 per student compared to prior year, so most of the school had a good chunk of charter funding that went up.

The charter revenue went up for most of the schools. Expenses increased by approximately $185,000 primarily due to salaries and benefits of about $96,000. Some dues and subscriptions went up by 33,000, and advertising went up by $26,000. The average cost per pupil FTE was 15,487 per FTE compared to $14,188 in prior year. The membership counts for September and January in current year were two hundred and twenty nine and two hundred and twenty six, respectively, slightly lower compared to prior year of two hundred thirty four and two hundred and twenty nine students.

Downtown Montessori School did not have any restricted fundraising revenue or expenses in current year or prior year. The unrestricted fundraising revenues were 41,000 compared to 34,000 in prior year, and unrestricted expenses were 14,000 compared to 12,000 in prior year. They had a slight surplus. Herplus is point 5% of the yearly revenue. And then looking at their financial position, their year end cash position remains solid with school maintaining approximately $827,000 in cash.

The current ratio remains excellent at 2.9, showing a slight decrease from prior year. Unrestricted net assets increased and are 85% of the yearly revenues. Accounts receivables are up slightly from prior year and but the total liabilities and current liabilities are consistent with prior year. Any questions on the numbers per se? Reviewing at the audit.

The audit was completed on time, and there were no significant financial statement internal control or compliance findings. And the the auditor did not express any issues related to school's ability to continue as a going concern. For city of Milwaukee reporting requirement, DMA has complied with most of the reporting requirements. They're required to provide us monthly and quarterly reports. They provided most of those reports.

Couple of monthly reports were late, however. They requested for extension for those, and those extensions were granted. Alright. To conclude, based on our review, it appears that school has solid financial management system and is an excellent financial condition with solid cash flow, and school appears to be in compliance with the provision of its contract with city of Milwaukee. School may want to keep an eye out on the enrollment and the budget to avoid any future deficits as they had a huge deficit in prior year.

Looking at their financial scorecard, it improved because of the financial condition of the school improved, and and the audit and everything was completed, on timely basis. Any questions on downtown Montessori? Alright. Then we will move on to the next school, Central City Cyber School, which was established at a charter school in 1999 and completed its twenty fifth year of operations. The school had a great great year this year.

They their revenues increased by almost $1,400,000 primarily due to charter revenue that went up by $608,000, and there was a DPI other revenue grant that also increased by $710,000. The school operating expenses decreased by $626,000 due to decrease in supplies of $239,000, and salaries and benefits went down by $233,000, and some professional fees went down by $133,000. The average cost for FTE was $13,006.85 compared to $14,007.65 in prior year. The membership counts were three hundred eighty three and three hundred seventy three in September and January of this year compared to three hundred ninety one and three hundred ninety five at the same time last year. So this enrollment is little bit lower compared to prior year.

They Central City did not have any restricted fundraising revenue or expenses. They do not have any fundraising fundraising revenues were $0.00 this year compared to $11 in prior year, and unrestricted fundraising expenses were $1,200 and $106,000 in prior year. The surplus is 20 almost 26% of the yearly revenue in current year. And looking at their current financial position, the school maintained a year year end cash balance of almost $2,000,000. The current ratio is excellent at 7.8 to one compared to four to one in prior year, and unrestricted net assets are 71% of the yearly revenues.

Accounts or grants receivable are up about 1,200,000.0, primarily all of primarily due to a $1,200,000 in ESSER grant receivable. Looks like the ESSER grant is coming to its end, so lots of schools are trying to spend all the money this year. So because I believe ESSER grant is coming to end on 09/30/2024. So total liabilities and current liabilities are consistent with prior year. For the review of

the

audit, the audit was completed on time, and there were no financial and internal control or compliance findings noted by the auditor. During the prey, it was noted that account payable and that was a prior year finding. The audit audit find it that there was a payable that was not booked in prior year, so so they adjusted the prior year audit. They made an adjustment to accounts payable by a $100,000 in the prior year. As far as other reporting requirement with the city of Milwaukee, They were in compliance with all they provided all the reports, although a couple of couple of reports were provided monthly reports were provided late.

To conclude, the school continues to have a solid financial management system in place. The school is in excellent financial condition with good cash flow and is in compliance with the provisions of its contract with city of Milwaukee. So their financial scorecard, you know, that reflects their excellent financial position. You know, their financial condition went up a little bit. We gave them an extra point.

They are in contract compliance, and and so their so their financial scorecard reflects their excellent financial condition and the good, financial reporting. Any questions on Central City?

Yes. Rupesh, this is this is Bill. Yeah. Bill. This is more just a general question. You brought up a ESSER funding, which, as I understand, expired in, I think, September, of this past year. Right. Do you, and this is more just general and not specific to any one school, but generally, do you think that the loss of ESSER funding poses any kind of a financial risk ongoing for the foreseeable future where schools have become reliant on ESSER funding? And what do you think the implications of that might be for some of these schools?

Yeah. So so that is the thing to watch out for for most of these schools. They were kind of relying on this funding for last several years, three, four years. They have adjusted their budgets, so we'll we'll be you know, on a quarterly basis, we will be checking if they are at to look at their budget to actual as long as they are following their budget. I am I hope they should be alright as far as financially, but key is to follow the budget. They have adjusted their budget based on, you know, losing this funding.

So there there might be some sort of belt tightening that that might have to happen, across the board?

Right. Right. Yeah. Definitely. You know, some of these schools had, like, couple of million dollars a year, you know, or, you know, larger schools had that kind of funding. So definitely and they have adjusted their budget for 2425, not relying on that funding if they follow through. So far, what we have seen is they are following their budget. But, you know, that is that is a concern in in you know, when you lose a big funding like that.

Sure. Yeah. No. I I appreciate the the perspective. Thank you. Sure.

I have two courses, and no one else have courses.

Yeah. Go ahead.

Generally speaking, do you know what contribute to the average per cost for students being lower this year than it was the in pre in the previous year? Because, generally, the trend is the student I mean, the student costs go up each year.

Right. Yeah. I think their their expense their operating expenses just went down. I don't yeah. That is I'm not sure. I think they're just more conscious of their cost, and, you know, they've reduced the salaries and benefits, and, you know, the supplies. Sometimes, you know, supplies is hard to like, know, they order more stuff in the prior year. They didn't need much. Yeah. So their their supplies expenses was down by almost $240,000. So that could have contributed to the fact that, you know, the cost per student is down.

Okay. And my second question is under the audit review. Just a quick note. Let me get to my tab. Hold on. Oh, lord. Okay. Hold on. What was the cause the cause that led to the understating of the accounts payable and expense last year, that 109,000?

Yeah. So sometimes it could be the timing. By the time they did the audit, the bill some bills didn't come through and wasn't booked as an accounts payable. K. You know? So that that could be the explanation for that. You know, that happens sometimes.

K. Thank you.

Alright. So if there are no further questions, we can move on to D. L. Heinz, which was established in 2002 and completed its twenty second year of operation. DL Hines had another positive year, although the revenues decreased by a $125,000 due to the ESSER funding decreasing by $442,000, although the charter revenue increased by $341,000.

The expenses decreased by almost $72,000 due to decrease in equipment purchase and supplies. The average cost per FTE was $16,008.00 9 compared to $16,009.00 5, which is pretty much consistent with prior year. And the membership counts were hundred and seventy two and hundred and eighty nine for September and January count compared to hundred and ninety two and hundred and eighty two in prior year. The school did not have any restricted fundraising revenue or expenses in current year or prior year. Unrestricted fundraising revenues were $6,300 and $2,400 in current year and prior year, and unrestricted expenses were $36,000 and $200 respectively.

The surplus is 1.2% of the yearly revenues. I think their fine as far as financial position, they continue to have a very solid cash position with a year end cash balance totaling approximately $1,800,000, and current ratio remains excellent at 22 to one. Accounts receivables and current liabilities are consistent with prior year, and the decrease in total liabilities of $250,000 is due to payments of lease payments. The lease liability went down. Based on the review of the annual audit, the audit was completed on time, and there were no significant financial statement internal control or compliance finding.

And there were no issues related to, their going concern. And DLH Academy has complied with all City of Milwaukee reporting requirements in a timely manner. To conclude, based on the review, school continues to have solid procedures and to ensure sufficient financial management system, and school appears to be in compliance with the provisions of its contract with the city of Milwaukee. I'm getting to their financial scorecard, which reflects their excellent health of the school. They they got a total of 97 points.

Any questions on Neil Heinz?

I just have one question. Sure. I'm gonna back up at the back up on the current financial statement. Would this be a good example of where due to the increase due to the loss of f Essa funds? And at the the last statement, it says this still leaves a financial positive change in the unrestricted net asset. Is this a good example of having no longer have the asset funds going forward that they've been able to manage their finances as a result of that?

Right. So so this year was nice. You know, they got $2,000 in extra charter funding compared to prior year, so that offset that big loss that they had in asset funding. But they did, you know, you know, looked at their budget, followed their budget, and decreased some expenses and to to keep themselves financially positive.

And I'll just make a note for the committee members that each year, DPI assesses what the new charter rate is gonna be for school. So it may it has never gone down to my knowledge. Right, Gail? So far, it's it's been increased periodically throughout the years.

And on a side note, I know for it's probably not related, but, like, I know Choice revenue has been going up. So their policy is to give more funding to the private schools, it appears. Alright. I'm moving on to Milwaukee Academy of Science. We started in 2000 as a UWM charter, but this in 2008, the school switched the chartering authority.

The school has completed twenty fifth fourth year of operation. MAS showed a surplus of almost $6,500,000. Revenues increased by $7,000,000 primarily due to charter revenue, up by $2,900,000, and they got this education stabilization funding grant of almost $4,000,000. And the expenses increased by only $421,000. The average FTE cost per student was $17,006.81 compared to $17,005.20 in prior year.

And the pupil membership counts are were thirteen ninety seven and thirteen forty eight for September and January 2024 or for the 2024 fiscal year compared to fourteen o one and thirteen twenty one in the prior year. The school did not have a had any restricted fundraising revenue or expenses for the current year or prior year, And the unrestricted fundraising revenues were 1,530,000.00 compared to a million in prior year, and unrestricted fundraising expenses were $286,000 and $70,000 respectively. Surplus is 21.6% of the yearly revenue. Looking at their financial position, the school has unrestricted net assets of 14,880,000.00, and current ratio is excellent at 4.33 compared to 3.62 in prior year. Unrestricted net assets are 49% of the yearly revenue.

The year end operating cash balance is at $6,800,000 and receivables of 3,760,000.00. And this increase of $1,200,000 in receivable is primarily due to ESSER grant. Current liabilities other than current debt service totaled $2,400,000, an increase of $670,000 from prior year, primarily due to $105,000 in payroll accrual and remaining in accounts payable increase of $596,000 due to higher repair and maintenance costs. MAS has also has a redevelopment of Rackham bonds that were refinanced into 2023. The balance of this loan is $11,980,000.

The loan covenants require school to maintain cash and investment and debt service reserve and repair and replacement fund. Total cash and though these restricted accounts totaled 3,100,000 at the year end, and this balance is in addition to the operating cash of 6,800,000.0 noted above. Review of the annual audit. The audit was submitted late. It was submitted by December 12.

Per review of the report, there were no significant financial statement or compliance found finding, and the auditor expressed no issues over MAS ability to continue as a going concern. However, there was a finding there was a material weakness in internal control noted due to account reconciliations and closing adjustment not done in timely manner, and that was part of the reason why the audit was late. The reconciliation for certain accounts that were completed at year end did not tie to the general ledger account balances. So the auditor recommended implement effective internal controls that ensure all assets, liabilities, and net asset account reconciliations are reviewed and and the reconciled balance tied to the general ledger on a timely basis. Management agrees with the finding as and has committed to a corrective active corrective action plan.

The small staff size and change in key personnel at year end contributed to some contributed to the audit and some of these issues. We will be during the year, we have been talking to the school and looking at these on a quarterly basis to make sure they are reconciling the cash properly, and we are making sure, and we will be closely monitoring this every month that it does tie to the GL, at least the cash reconciliation. Some of the year end stuff, we we do not get to see that until the end of the the year. As far as reporting requirements for the city Of Milwaukee, the school has complied with the City Of Milwaukee reporting requirement, and they were all provided to us on time. So based on our review, it appears that organization has adequate procedures in place to ensure a sufficient financial management system.

The school has an excellent financial position with an excellent ratio of cash and current ratio. The school appears to be in compliance with the provisions of its contract with the city of Milwaukee. I'm looking at their financial scorecard. I mean, their financial condition is excellent. However, you know, with the financial reporting and internal control, they had some issues. So so their total score is on the lower side of 90. Any questions?

I have a couple. Sure. Back towards the top part, under current year financial results, what does the acronym R and M stand for?

What's that? What does

the acronym R and M stand for? I didn't

I didn't Oh, oh, repairs and maintenance. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Maybe Okay. Yeah. Maybe we should have put the complete thing. Do you want me to change it? Or

Yes, plea yes. Okay. Only because I didn't know what it meant.

Right. Right. Yeah.

I hadn't seen it, and I hadn't seen it before.

Definitely. No. I can let me make the note that I need to do this. Okay. I'll make that change and send it right away.

You answered the question about why the audit was submitted late. I do have a question with respect to your monitoring of each month. The question I had was what corrective action is being put in place, and when will you follow-up to see that the corrective action is working? And you said you're doing that on a monthly basis. Will he Yeah. So not working?

Yeah. Right now so so what we are doing is on

a monthly basis, we get their bank reconciliation and their general ledger. We usually, we then ask them for the general ledger, but right now, we are so that we're making sure the balances are actually timed to the general ledger each month. That so that at least the bank reconciliation is done properly Okay. Which is half of the battle.

And then under on page 20, just where it says just before other reporting requirements right above it, it said the small staff size contribute to the late audit submission. My question was, what action is being considered for submitting the audit report on a timely on a more more on time for 2025? Like, for example, are they planning on hiring dish hiring a dish?

Yeah. So as far as I know, I think they're they are looking to hire a couple of more people in the accounting department, so that should be helpful. I don't know, if they have hired anyone yet, but I know they were looking to hire a couple of people. And maybe Gail knows because I know she goes to lot more, you know, those board meetings.

No. I don't I haven't heard anything, but I can ask.

Definitely We follow-up and see where they are at with, you know, adding those couple of positions.

K. Those are the questions I had. Thank you.

Okay.

Alright. Then I will move

on to Doctor. Howard Fuller, Collegiate Academy, which just started in 2011 as a charter school, and completed its thirteenth year as a City Of Milwaukee charter. The school showed a significant gain of four point almost $4,500,000 in a year. The school posted revenue of 11,600,000.0, down for 20 down from 23,190,000.00 in the prior year. The revenue decrease was mostly due to a onetime donated building of $11,000,000 in prior year.

The current year expenses increased by $887,000. The expense increase was mostly due to increase in professional fees of $500,000 and interest expense increase of $361,000. The average cost per FTE was $23,610 compared to $19,004.73 in prior year. The membership counts for September and January of current year were three hundred fourteen and two hundred and ninety four compared to three hundred and thirty one and three hundred and fifteen for prior year. So the enrollment is down by about 20 or 20 ish students.

The the school did not have any restricted fundraising revenues or expenses in current or prior year. Unrestricted fundraising revenues were $1,300,000 and 1,900,000.0 for current year and prior year, respectively, and unrestricted expenses were a $1,065,000 dollars compared to $78,000 in prior year. Surplus as a percentage of revenue is $38,500,000. And looking at their current financial position, their current ratio has fallen to point two three, but there's a good explanation for that compared to 43.37 in the prior year due to an approximate $10,000,000 in current liabilities, which are primarily related to the construction project that they have. And they do have $20,000,000 in restricted cash for that purposes.

Since this table that we have over here, we only put the unrestricted cash, so that's why their, you know, current ratio is really skewed in the sense that it is point two three. So so it shouldn't be very alarming. They are they are using that restricted cash to pay for this $10,000,000 in current liabilities. Okay. Review of the annual audit.

The audit was completely late, due to a management turnover. John Osman was replaced by, I believe, Ted. Per review of the report, there were no financial statement, internal control, or compliance findings by the auditor, and they expressed no issues over the organization's ability to continue as a going concern. The school has complied with city of Milwaukee's reporting requirement. There was a one monthly report that was late.

Alright. Conclusion. Based on a review, it appears that organization has sufficient financial management system and excellent financial position. The school appears to be in compliance with the provisions of city of Milwaukee contract requirements. K.

Looking at the financial scorecard, An excellent financial position. So the audit wasn't completed on timely basis, so there's a little lower point on financial reporting. And there were no audit finding, but there were some, you know, issues listed on the management letter as to contract signatures and pay rate discrepancies. So so we got a couple of points for internal controls. Their total score is down to 90.

Any questions on Howard Fuller? Alright. And we'll move on to Milwaukee Math and Science Academy, which just completed its thirteenth year as a city of Milwaukee charter. After showing deficit in last two years, MMSA showed, almost $200,000 in surplus from approximately $3,600,000 of revenue and expenses of 3,400,000. Revenues increased by $271,000, due to charter revenue increase and expenses decreased by about $28,000.

Their average cost per FTE was $15,003.63 compared to $15,007.54 in prior year. And the membership counts for September and January were two hundred forty three and two hundred and twenty, respectively, and compared to prior year of two hundred and thirty one and two hundred and twenty five. The school did not have any restricted or unrestricted fundraising revenues or expenses in current or prior year, and the surplus is 5.3% of the total revenue in current year. At their financial position, the school has accumulated unrestricted net assets of $794,000 or 22% of their yearly revenue. The current ratio is increased to 5.3 to one compared to 4.3 in in prior year.

Accounts receivables went down by $150,000 due to timing of the grant and and timing of the claims. And current and total liabilities are consistent with the prior year. The annual audit was completed on time, and there were no significant financial statement or internal control finding by the auditor. And the auditor expressed no concern about the going concern. There was a compliance finding in the prior prior year.

The finding was a significant deficiency that accounts payable included several outstanding items that had been paid. The current status of that finding is the finding is considered corrected in current year. The school has complied with the city of Milwaukee reporting requirements for the school year. And so based on our review, the organization has adequate procedure in place to ensure a sufficient financial management system. The school continues to be in a good financial position and appears to be in compliance with the city of Milwaukee contract provisions.

K. So looking at this scorecard, it's kind of consistent with prior year. The financial condition improved a little, and the the finding has gone away. So we raised it a little bit, gave them an extra few points, and they are up to 88. The sustainability, you know, there there was a slight decrease, like, five pupils in enrollment count.

So that contributes to their Any questions on MMSE, Kevin?

Just one for me. Under review of the audit report, again, what does CFDA stand for? Oh, CFDA is that's like, you

know, when the federal gives out the grant, they assign a CFDA number. So I think this was more like, you know, they had a finding related to that particular grant.

Okay. Got it.

Alright. So then moving on to the last one, Esquela Verde, which completed its twelfth year of operation. Esquela Verde is an arm of our trans center for youth Inc, which comprised of comprises of three other entities, Shalom High School, North Nova Or Northwest Opportunities Vocational Academy, and El Puente High School. Squela Verde once again was able to achieve very good financial results even with a relatively low enrollment level. The school showed a surplus of $379,000 with a revenue of $2,300,000 and expenses of, about 1,970,000.00.

There was a revenue increase of $306,000 primarily due to charter revenue increase of $239,000, and there was a donation increase of $100,100,000 dollars. Expenses are consistent with prior year. The average cost per FTE was $16,003.17 compared to 15,688 in prior year. The membership counts for September and January were hundred and twenty and hundred and twenty one compared to hundred and twenty one and hundred and twenty four in prior year. As well, they did not have any restricted or unrestricted revenues or expenses in current or prior year.

The surplus is 16% of the current year revenue. K. So looking at the current financial position, this school has accumulated unrestricted net assets of $384,000. As the school is part of the Transcenter for youth, it is important to look at the financial position of the organization as a whole. The trans center for youth's year end cash and receivable totaled about $2,670,000, and the current liabilities of $315,000, thus giving us a current ratio of 8.48 compared to five point five point seven in prior year.

Increase of 60,000 in accounts receivable is primarily due to increase in asset funding or asset receivable. Per the review of the annual audit, it was completed on time, and there were no financial statement in the control or compliance findings. And the auditor issued no no issues over the school's ability to continue as a going concern. For city of Milwaukee reporting requirements, school has complied with all the City Of Milwaukee reporting requirements for the year. So based on our review, it appears that school has adequate procedures in place to ensure a sufficient financial management system.

The school and the organization as a whole appears to be in good financial position, and the school appears to be in compliance with the provisions of its City Of Milwaukee requirements. And looking at their financial scorecard that reflects their good financial condition, and all the audits were completed on time and monthly reports provided on time. So their total score is 90 six. Any questions on Esquela Verde?

Any overall comments or questions for for Chris?

Actually, I do. Because, like, on our report, we you know, now I think we have enough data for all this information regarding, like, you know, know, the average FTE we have. So can we include that as a like, in a in a table instead of putting it in, like you know, I think that would be better that way, like, average cost per FTE. And then also, pupil membership counts. I know we we have been doing September and January.

I think it would be better if we just say, okay. This is the average for those two. So that makes it easier to compare. It's just something I noticed this year. Hey. Maybe we should be doing it that way. And then also, you know, restricted or unrestricted fundraising revenue and expense, we can include it in a table rather than showing it as a separate line item as it just flows better than you can see it for four years compared to just two years that we can incorporate going forward.

If you think it'll help improve the report, let's look do it, and, we can look at a draft before we present the final report.

Sure. Definitely. And, also, for pupil membership counts, these are these are the actual counts and not the FTE. So I don't know if it is helpful to put the FTE numbers because we are doing the cost as FTE, and that's up for, like, you know, whatever brainstorming. I was thinking about it. Is it better to do it that way or not? I'm not sure. Or we can put both.

Yeah. Let's do a draft of it, and we can go through it and see which one seems to be the most explainable and easy to understand from

the point of view. Okay. Late laypeople. Okay. So we can so that is for the next year. So we're going forward.

K. Right.

Okay. So I can do that. Anything else?

This this is Bill. I I was just wondering if if it might make sense. This is kind of an open question, but if it might make sense to provide a a breakdown of the sources of revenue for each school. Well, maybe after ESSER has expired, that might no longer be as relevant, but I think it is informative, at least to me, to identify how much a school is relying on essentially one time revenues to pay for ongoing expenses.

So when you say breakdown, so how much deep? So like charter revenue and other revenue, would that suffice? Or do we want to go, okay. This is charter revenue because some schools have 10 different grants, so it would be, you know.

Well, I don't think we'd wanna be overwhelmed with detail, but if it is possible to maybe categorize them, you know, for example, if, there's maybe ongoing grants and then there's maybe grants that will certainly expire. Maybe those could be two categories. Like you said, charter school revenue, that would be another category. Then I know you break out fundraising separately and it's a relatively minimal amount. And to be honest, I'm just not as familiar with what all of the different revenue sources are for schools. So it would it would at least the first time I see it, it would be it would be informative.

Okay. Yeah. We can definitely try to incorporate that as a yeah. We can we can go back and do something like that.

I I see some good suggestions being dropped in the chat.

Yeah. I I like that idea, Bill. I think something, maybe, like, breaking it down from, like, DPI funds. You could even break it down from, like, SPED funds, and then, like, grants, unrestricted. And

And fundraising. Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah. We can definitely

see if we can categorize it into three or four different categories and do it. Yeah. We can definitely incorporate that for next year. Yep.

And, again, we can Go

ahead. Go ahead, I was just gonna say, I'm wondering if we're gonna do that for revenues. I wonder if it could be kind of something similar for expenses. Like, we could do, you know, admin fees, student curriculum fees, something very broad, but then also kind of see a little bit more of a whole picture.

Yeah. Okay. Maybe we can kind of do, like, program expenses versus equipment and fundraising. Okay. Because usually, the audit reports will have program expenses, management, and general and fundraising in there. So we can definitely categorize into those three. But within program, there will be, like, okay, salaries.

Oh, yeah. I think program would be

different. Yeah. Yeah. We can definitely yeah. Yep. That could be done.

Thanks. You know, I was just gonna mention we could also, you know, do a predraft to kinda look at it and, you know, then that way we can see if it's capturing what Bill and Zeb and others have written in a note.

Right. Absolutely.

Any additional questions or comments for request? Seeing none, then I will move for a motion to accept the annual financial scorecard report from ML Thurps.

I motion to accept.

So moved. Is there a second?

This is Bill. I'll second.

Alright. It's been moved in second. All in favor, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Okay. That was the last item on our agenda, and that will bring us to a close. So I'll entertain a motion for us to adjourn.

I motion to adjourn.

This is Bill. I'll second.

Alright. We are officially adjourned. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you. Bye bye.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you for your hard work.

Yes. Alright. Bye.